Not Actually In The Bible

A recent report indicates that Americans are some of the most religious people on the planet but score horribly on biblical knowledge. I'd like to help.
Over the years many things have been rumored to be in the Bible that actually are not. Let's explore a few of these here..

The Golden Rule; Do unto other as you would have done unto you.
This one IS in there, but it's worded differently. This more commonly known wording is, as far as I can tell, from a 1963 book on B&D, S&M ettiquette titled "Safewords and Hanky Codes made simple."

Here's a really surprising one. Contrary to popular belief, neither "Vote Republican" nor "Bush, Cheny in 2004" are found in the bible, except where they've been added which is frequently the case.

God made the dirt, so the dirt can't hurt. Amazingly enough, this gem which led to much eating of dirt in my child hood is not scripture. It seems that in fact many of Gods creations, not excluding humans, are quite capable of inflicting hurt as is God himself. (A wink to Jones, fellow dirt eater.)

Mythical Creatures. The unicorn IS actually in the Bible, Leprachans, Tela-Tubbies, funny republicans, intelligent and/or productive internet debate, natural disaster proof trailer parks, a cure for warts or dinosaurs however are not.

Spare the Twinkie, spoil the child; not in there. Not that my mom ever fell for that one anyway.

Kill everyone that believes differently than you. Not in there. Sorry. No, please, calm down, there's no need to get violent. Okay, okay it's in. I'm writing it in right now, please, have a seat.

I guess I'd better leave off there, for now.

The Vegetarian Discussion

Okay, first things first, I'm not preaching at ya here. I was vegan for 15 years, and for 15 years I wanted people to understand that I'm not one "those vegans." You know, the preachy, you can't eat meat in front of 'em type. Not me. I'll even let you cook a burger on my BBQ grill, just leave half the grill for me and my grilled veggies.

Now, I'm eating fish and eggs but still no dairy or other meat. A medical diet I was on eliminated all of my vegan protein sources and so, my new diet. I'm now a Keith-an. No, I don't eat Keiths.

A regular commenter here at RockAss.net, Crowliosis suggested we have it out on the vegan discussion. Unlike a certain Mr. Sucks, Crow is fun to disagree with. He's smart and respectful and knows how to do more than sling accusations and insults.

So, here goes, in two parts, my argument for veganism.

1)Ethics

• I will not argue that it is unethical for one animal to eat another. It's what animals due. Going extinct is also what many animals due. Our intelligence is hopefully a useful trait that can give us an advantage over less intelligent animals, meaning we can make decisions to our advantage. I'm arguing against the idea that eating meat is right because it's natural. I'll go further, we don't really like being natural all that much. Rape it can be argued is natural, as is having way too many babies.Speaking of too many babies, there are over six billion people on the planet. This makes eating meat an environmentally disastrous decision as it is a most inefficient use of resources. Rainforests are cleared for cattle grazing, and any one whose traversed California on highway 99 has seen way too many cows crowded together on too small a plot of land. Then there's the horrors of pig-shit, way too much of it and nowhere to put it.
  
  
• Feeding so many people also means more efficient ways of raising the animals. One does not need to be opposed to the killing part of meat to be disgusted by the way they are treated prior to the killing. Factory farms would give even your staunchest meat lover a nightmare. Yes, you can get meat from smaller farms. It's not practical for feeding such a big population but if you must eat the stuff, it's the way to go.
  
  
• So where does dairy fit in? It's just as bad or worse environmentally, and from the cruelty angle, I'd rather be a meat cow who at least has the relief of death at a comparatively young age than a milk cow.
  

To summarize, crowded planet means more efficient diets needed to benefit already strained environment and to avoid inhumane methods of producing great quantities of meat and dairy.

2) Nutrition.

This is where I could use more learning, and perhaps I'll get some if we get a good discussion going here.

• What I do know is that the calcium argument doesn't hold water. Milk's not that great a source, we get plenty from Spinach and other green and especially leafy green veggies. Plus without enough magnesium a-lot of the calcium goes right through, or worse it gets deposited where it's neither needed or wanted. The western diet is thought by some to be too high in calcium and there are studies suggesting that Asian women having easier menstrual cycles and some other advantages maybe related to their much lower consumption of dairy.
  
  
• Protein. Again, there are plenty of sources of protein other than meat. Beans, lentils, legumes, wheat, nuts, etc. And again, the American diet is crazy high in fatty proteins. Yes, I'll admit that it's crazy high in Carbs too, but it's easier to be a low carb vegan than you may think.
  
  
• B complex vitamins. There's still a-lot debate on this one. Some argue that you can't get it without eating animals, others suggest that you can get it by eating what those animals eat, ie raw green foods. I think the more live vegetables and fruit in your diet the better.
  

There are cultures who've eaten vegetarian and vegan diets for centuries and others who are close. It's proven to be nutritionally sufficient to maintain health.

So that's my argument so far.

And just for fun, what would I eat first if I had too. Already answered a bit by what I am eating. This list takes ethics and nutrition into account.

1. Fish, not farmed and caught using hooks not net and only species that are still found in abundance.
2. Eggs, from cage free well fed chickens, cause you eat what they eat.
3. Beef.
4. Dairy. I think it's bad stuff for grown up animals. No other animal consumes milk except in it's infancy from it's mother, oh and raccoons but only if we hold the cows still for 'em.
5. Pigs. Pig shit is seriously a big problem and pork, way not healthy. Sorry Jones, if you read this far.
   

And one last though. Ted Nugent is so not my enemy on this one. We both have a common enemy in fact, factory farming. He says you shouldn't eat if you ain't willing to kill it and I agree. Of course ALL of us hunting would be a disaster but my guess is people would eat a whole lot less beef.

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Why bother with the God thing.

Thanks Jennifer for the graphic
People want to know why I bother with the God question.

It's weird, I think that it's a boring discussion in a way, I don't want to discuss the existence of god anymore than I want to discuss the existence of Leprechauns, but there's the frustrating contingent of people insisting that Leprechauns exist.

They keep trying to waste my tax dollars looking for the pot of gold. They hassle my midget friends. They accuse me of waging a war against St. Patrick's Day if I don't celebrate with corned beef and cabbage. They follow me home when I buy Guinness or Lucky Charms. Leave me alone bastards, I just like to poor Guinness over me Lucky Charms! You'll never get me gold, na ha ha ha ha.

As always, I welcome your comments, but I'd encourage you to post something fun. We've had enough theist/atheist debates to last awhile. I'm not saying you shouldn't express your beliefs, please, have at it, but have fun with it. Erin Go Bragh!

Atheists are as irrational as religious believers

Or more irrational.
This is an argument I've heard a-lot lately, especially from people calling themselves agnostic.

The reasoning is that we atheists believe that something doesn't exist though we have no evidence that it doesn't exist.

If I told you of a lollipop pooping pink rhino that I believe may exist though I have no evidence to present to you, or no evidence that you found credible or scientifically sound, would you be irrational for not believing in this rhino?

If 2,000 years from now your ancestors also did not believe in this rhino would they be irrational?

Do you believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster? If not, does this make you irrational?

I can think of lots of things that you don't believe in and I can make up lots of things for you not to believe in.

Lack of evidence is a perfectly rational reason to believe that something does not exist.

An atheist may believe that there could possibly be other life out there in this big universe, and that this other life could be more advanced than we are currently. Atheists can leave room for lots of possibility in the undiscovered world, but while we work on discovery it is not irrational to let go of the old explanations that were made up in the absence of knowledge.

It was once believed that god "put the baby there." Now we know about sperm and egg and the humping. It was once believed that god responded to the sacrifice of animals. Now we know about the protein in their blood serving as fertilizer, we also know that poop works better. Would it be rational for me to continue believing that god is behind the other mysteries we haven't solved or is it more rational, as a scientific minded person to accept that there are unknowns?


To simplify and summarize let me ask you this; How the hell do you prove something DOESN'T exist? Why, that's just silly. You prove something DOES exist, or you prove that it's likely it DOES exist while you continue to look for absolute proof of it's existence.

Who's Afraid Of Islam?

Warning: Here comes preachy Keith. I don't want to scare away the folks that come here to dig the stories and poems and what not, so if that's your thing, cool. You won't offend me if you just skip this little tirade. Otherwise, have at it, and feel free to engage me in the comments. No name calling, flame war crap please, but disagreeing with me is always welcome.


A major ingredient in conservative policy is the common enemy. Rally behind the flag for THEY are out there. In my childhood (and my father's) it was the communist threat. As we are now instructed to be afraid of Islam and it's west hating ways I can't help but see an irony in our president's friendly visit to Vietnam. Vietnam was to our Communist-phobic hysteria as Iraq is now to our Islamaphobic hysteria. Well we lost "The Nam", which we were told would certainly have dire consequences, denying us any stability and security. As our President dons his jammies and spends a cozy night sleeping in Vietnam we should not miss the irony here. The carrot was more effective than the stick in luring communist governments into a comfortable relationship with the capitalist democracies of the world. Why do we have to learn the lesson over again now as we convince ourselves that The Muslims will not rest until our way of life is destroyed.

Are the Millitant Islamic factions to be feared. Certainly, just as there are frightening Christian extremists right here in our own country. I fear any philosophy that can excuse killing in the name of god. But we have to ask ourselves why increasing numbers of Muslims are willing to subscribe to an extreme, anti-west interpretation of Islam. The "They hate our freedom" explanation of why we were attacked is idiotic at best. It's time for American to take a good hard look at our dealing in the middle east over the years. You don't have to agree with the complaints against us to realize that there is more to them than just a bunch of freedom hating. To give but one small example, please remember that it was us who helped put the Bathe party in power in Iraq and then supported Hussein's brutal take over of that party.

So, if we assume that there are more complex reasons for hating us than just a bizarre disgust with freedom that still leaves the question of what do we do with it. For one we accept that Muslims come in many styles and we stop grouping them all together, blaming the Muslim masses for any action of any Muslim anywhere. We reach out to the moderates who would like to see peace and we work on extending the carrot. We have faith that we really are on to something that the rest of the world will not be able to resist when it comes to our freedom of press, religion, and this damn attractive economic stability that I benefit from daily. We stop giving them a big bad enemy that easy to hate. Here's where I get real idealistic. If we put as much energy into helping the rest of the world as we put into protecting ourselves and our perceived interests from the rest of the world could anyone mess with us? The Iran earthquake a few years back was such an amazing opportunity for us and we did offer assistance but far too little.

So don't fear Muslims. There are plenty of them right here in our communities who would be happy to let you have a tour of their Mosques (I know I've had such a tour), who would be happy to talk politics, ethics and religion with you in a mutually respectful way (even if you're a dirtbag, homo-lovin' atheist like me) and who are happy to do business with you.

There are those who will come back at me by quoting The Koran attempting to present it as a call to violence. Let me remind them how easy it has always been for people to use the Bible to excuse violent, hateful behavior including genocide and slavery. You can also use The Bible to divide yourself from those who would commit atrocious sins, you know, like eating shell fish. When the Islamic empire was at it's height the Muslims had a very generous and progressive attitude toward Christians and Jews. I could go on an on, but instead I will encourage you to study the history of Islam and you will find a rich, complex and beautiful culture, one you might have a hard time hating.

The bottom line is when people are able to have a nice comfortable life where they can worship as they please and see their children safe and happy, the overwhelming majority will be most unlikely to take up arms or to subscribe to a militant philosophy that will interrupt their ability to live peacefully with their neighbors. That's poor people behavior. So, there's your enemy, your great fear; poverty. Want to be afraid? Be afraid of so many people in the world having so little to lose for these have always been the people most easily inducted into a fighting force. And with every war we wage there are more such people. We can pretend we're fighting over our differences of religion, but would there be a fight if there were not resources like land, oil and other things that equal money to be fought over? I don't think so.

The California Conservative disagrees. Read his post here.